Olde Ripton Garden Club

Shelton, Connecticut 06484

May 12, 2021

Dear Donors and Customers

Thank you for your generous gifts to The Olde Ripton Garden Club. We are thrilled to have your support. Through your donations and purchases we will be able to raise funds and continue working towards assisting in beautifying streets, and grounds around public buildings in Shelton. Today your donation is going toward new Signs for our Community Gardens and to award a scholarship to a Shelton High School Student who plans to study horticulture, conservation or the environment.

You truly make the difference for us, and we are extremely grateful!

Sincerely,

Lisa DiNardo & Debby Garrow

Co-Chairmen Olde Ripton Garden Club 2021 Annual Plant & Bake Sale

On Saturday, May 8th we held our Annual Plant Sale and it was a huge success.  Thank you to the public for supporting this important fund raiser.  The Olde Ripton Garden Club is a non-profit organization and all proceeds benefit the community projects in which we are involved.

Lisa DiNardo, Plant Sale Co-chairman and committee member Debby Garrow stand by the hand made wreaths that were available for sale.

Besides member donated plants and baked goods, also available were crafts including hand made wreaths, painted trowels, lavender sachets and floral arrangements.  Also sold were gift cards and raffle tickets for a selection of baskets and large plants, all donated by local businesses.

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Join us on Saturday, May 8th for our annual plant sale which is a major fundraiser for the Olde Ripton Garden Club.  We are a non-profit organization and all proceeds benefit the community projects in which we are involved.   

Because of the pandemic last year, we were unable to offer this successful fundraiser to the community, please stop by and check us out and learn all about the Olde Ripton Garden Club.

For our April meeting we welcomed Margery Winters, Assistant Director of Roaring Brook Nature Center.  The virtual program was “Spring Wildflowers.”  We discovered why they bloom in the spring, where to find them, how they got their names and what makes these plants so special.

Margery is the Assistant Director at Roaring Brook Nature Center in Canton and manages their native plant gardens.  She is a past President of the Simsbury Garden Club and past Chairman of the Federated Garden Club Landscape Design Study Program and is a Master Landscape Design Consultant.

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At our March virtual meeting, Club Horticulture Co-Chair Linda Hooper shared with us information about the solitary Mason Bee.  Mason bees are some of the first bees to emerge in the spring. They can tolerate temperatures down to 55 degrees, for much of North America, this means that mason bees will be active beginning in late February to early April.

Mason Bees are excellent pollinators, but unlike Honey Bees, they do not produce honey, they are named for their habit of using mud or other masonry products in constructing their nests.   A variety of commercial nesting boxes are available at garden shops and online.

For our March virtual meeting we welcomed Christine Cummings, President and Co-Founder of “A Place Called Hope.”  A Place Called Hope  is run entirely by volunteers,  along with donations of time, supplies and money from supporters. One of their goals is to teach the public how to protect and respect wildlife, in particular raptors.

We were delighted that Christine shared her red-tailed hawk, Cheyenne, and her barred owl Zen with us. Cheyenne came to A Place Called Hope after a car strike which caused wing damage that made it impossible to gain height when flying. Zen was found by construction workers after falling out of the nest as a young chick. Because birds imprint on the first living thing they see, Zen imprinted with the workers who cared for him and because of this he would no longer be able to survive in the wild.  Both birds will be cared for and live out their lives at A Place Called Hope.

Now that winter is upon us, we are spending more time with our indoor plants.  We welcomed back Master Gardener Nicole Christensen.  Nicole talked about the proper care of houseplants and shared many helpful hints and information to succeed at indoor gardening.

Photos of Nicole’s houseplants are taken from her blog “Suburban Farmgirl”

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Around Shelton the Olde Ripton Garden Club maintains civic gardens. Club members decorated the welcome sign at the Shelton High School entrance and added holiday wreathes to the gardens at the Huntington Community Center and the fountain at the Huntington Center Green.

Shelton High School

Huntington Community Center

Fountain on the Huntington Green

The Olde Ripton Garden Club maintains Civic Gardens around the town of Shelton.  Pictured here are gardens in the Huntington Center Green, the Huntington Community Center and the Shelton High School.  Members of the club are hard at work all year caring for these and various other gardens in Shelton.

Huntington Center

Community Center

Huntington Center

Shelton High School

Our September meeting featured a video conference with
Theresa Gallagher, Natural Resource Manager for the City of Shelton.

Theresa shared with us information about the 30 miles of marked
hiking trails in Shelton. Trails are created and maintained by volunteers.

These trails include:
Shelton Riverwalk, Shelton Lakes Recreation Path, Shelton Lakes Greenway Trail Network, Gristmill Trail on the Far Mill River, Boehm Pond Trails, Means Brook Greenway, Tahmore Trail & Indian Well S.P., The Bluff Walk (Riverview Trail),
and the Paugussett (“Blue Dot”) Trail.

To learn more about the Shelton Conservation Commission visit their website at:

http://sheltonconservation.org/recreation/shelton_trails.html

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This month for our virtual meeting we welcomed Siddhi Sheth who is a Registered Dietician with ShopRite of Shelton.  Siddhi discussed the benefits of eating seasonal produce, tips for finding foods in season and cooking using seasonal items.

Gardeners love earthworms…but not all earthworms are good for our gardens! This month we welcomed Nicole Christensen who gave a virtual presentation about the  invasive species known as the Asian Jumping Worm.

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As we continue to conduct our meetings virtually, please check back regularly to see when we will once again return to our regular meetings at the Plumb Memorial Library.

If you are new to our website or have come back to visit, be sure to check the above tabs.  The various tabs will give you a look into who we are and some of the interesting things we have accomplished in the past.